A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom: A Novel

· Sold by Hogarth
4.0
1 review
Ebook
480
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

From the bestselling author of A Ladder to the Sky—“a darkly funny novel that races like a beating heart” (People)—comes a new novel that plays out across all of human history: a story as precise as it is unlimited.

This story starts with a family. For now, it is a father and a mother with two sons, one with his father’s violence in his blood, one with his mother’s artistry. One leaves. One stays. They will be joined by others whose deeds will determine their fate. It is a beginning.

Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of two thousand years. They will meet again and again at different times and in different places. From Palestine at the dawn of the first millennium and journeying across fifty countries to a life among the stars in the third, the world will change around them, but their destinies remain the same. It must play out as foretold.

From the award-winning author of The Heart’s Invisible Furies comes A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom, an epic tale of humanity. The story of all of us, stretching across two millennia. Imaginative, unique, heartbreaking, this is John Boyne at his most creative and compelling.

Ratings and reviews

4.0
1 review
Toby A. Smith
September 13, 2020
INTELLIGENT and INGENIOUS are the two best words I can think of to describe this book. One of the joys I find in picking up ANY book by John Boyne for the first time is knowing it will be different from every OTHER book I've read by him AND, in THIS case, different from every other book I've ever read. Let me try to describe it -- and please understand, this won't be easy and will take work. Imagine a historical novel that is episodic, with chapters that follow a chronology beginning in the year 1 A.D. and ending up with an Epilogue in 2080. Each chapter is true to a different time period and and global location. So one episode might take place in Namibia, or Argentina, or New Zealand and the following one could be in Scotland, North Korea, or Greece. Occasionally, a character will briefly come into contact with some recognizable figure from history. Now layer onto this foundation one continual story about the same handful of characters. Their names change slightly as their geography changes, but they are easily recognizable and their narrative flows seamlessly. The main character is an artist who is compelled to honor his talent, even in the face of family and friends eager to impose more traditional societal expectations. The novel is about his life - his search for love and acceptance, about betrayals and revenge, about loss and recovery. Altogether, the novel transforms into a sort of "every/any person's" tale, one all of us can easily relate to. A documenting of human history that explores the relationships, values, struggles, and decisions that form part of our daily lives. And, as the title suggests, it's about our own struggle to understand the nature of true wisdom. I found the book ambitious, compelling and impressive. And with a killer surprise ending!
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About the author

John Boyne is the author of twelve novels for adults, six for younger readers, and a collection of short stories. In his native Ireland, he has won three Irish Book Awards and been shortlisted on thirteen separate occasions. He has also won or been shortlisted for a host of international literary awards, including a Stonewall Honor Award and a Lambda Literary Award. A regular participant in international literary festivals, he has also been a member of the jury for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Costa Book Award, and in 2015 he chaired the jury for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His novels have been published in over fifty languages.

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